NASHVILLE - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen's campaign chief says the former governor has already defined his contest with Republican Marsha Blackburn and put "pressure on the opposition to play defense in a state that was supposed to be a safe bet" for the GOP.
In his campaign memo out today, Bredesen campaign manager Bob Corney wrote that eight months into the race and with "a disciplined message on what senators ought to do - put Tennessee first - our campaign has successfully reintroduced Governor Bredesen's independent track record" and "defined the stakes of the race between two candidates who see the role of a Senator very differently."
Corney later returned to the state-focused take on President Donald Trump's well-known "America First" slogan in the memo, citing the Democrat's "Tennessee-first approach" as his "strength by taking on hyper-local issues with bold new ideas and engaging with Republicans and Democrats alike to create solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing our communities."
The "focus on Tennessee, not Washington, wins over grassroots support and crossover voters," Corney notes, adding that "when we launched our campaign in December, we were met with skepticism by Beltway political pundits. But we soon established a competitive race, showcasing why Phil Bredesen remains one of the most popular leaders in Tennessee."
Recent polls do show a competitive race in a state where no Democratic U.S. senator has been elected since 1990. Still, Bredesen has spent substantially on television ads while neither Blackburn, a Brentwood congressman and favorite of conservative Republicans, nor her expected national allies have yet to go on the air although Blackburn is investing heavily in digital media.
Corney said Bredesen's campaign took in more than $4.48 million in campaign cash during the April 1-June 30 second quarter reporting period. That included $2.43 million in contributions and a $2 million loan from Bredesen, a self-made multi-millionaire.
The money went into the campaign's TV and digital programs, according to Corney who also wrote that since launching his bid in December, the campaign has received more than $8.2 million.
Blackburn said on Saturday she raised more than $2.6 million during the second quarter and now has over $7.3 million in cash on hand in the Nov. 6 general election and thus "remains well positioned" to succeed in her battle with Bredesen.
In December, Bredesen announced he would run for the seat vacated by his long-time friend, Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga, who said last year he wouldn't seek re-election to a third term in the midst of ongoing disputes with Trump.
Corker has since said that while he supports Blackburn he will not campaign against Bredesen.
During the campaign, Blackburn has hewed closely to Trump on most issues. A notable exception, however, is her recent criticism of the president's tariffs which Bredesen has hit hard as harmful to Tennesseans in areas ranging from soy beans and Tennessee-made whiskey to automobiles and SUVs made in auto assembly plants, including Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga.
In May, Trump came to Nashville for a Blackburn fundraiser and also spoke at a rally here where he blasted Bredesen as a "tool" for U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Republicans currently have a razor-thin 51-49 majority in the Senate.
The former governor told the Washington Post last week that while he didn't think Democrats would re-take the Senate this fall, he could support someone other Schumer depending on circumstances.
Meanwhile, Blackburn's chief strategist Ward Baker, a Tennessee native and former director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, last week lambasted Bredesen as well as well as some Republican moderates openly backing the former governor during a lunch address at a gathering of Nashville-area Republicans.
In a secretly made recording of his presentation, distributed to a number of news organizations, Baker likened the contest to a boxing match.
"They're going to try and, you know, tell voters, 'Oh, I'm OK with Trump on this,'" Baker said of the Bredesen campaign.
But Baker said "we're going to make sure that he is in a corner, and we are going to constantly punch him in his face over and over and over again. This race will not be won by death by a thousand cuts. It's going to be death by 10,000 cuts."
At "the end of the day, the oxygen will be taken out of the room, and he will not survive come election night," Baker vowed.
The veteran GOP operative also issued a warning to Republicans, several of whom have sponsored Bredesen fundraisers,
"We have a list of everybody that's screwing us," he said, noting that when Blackburn goes up on TV "and we lay out our case, I think some of them will come back. And the ones that don't, I'll do everything in my power to make sure that they have trouble living in the future."
His Republican audience chuckled at the remarks.
Corney's memo called Baker's remarks a "bizarre rant," noting "our opposition got lulled into the hyper-partisan conventional wisdom of Washington, sleep-walking through the first half of the year by offering a national platform indistinguishable from other incumbents and failing to coalesce support around their candidate."
And he said that "in a panic, [Blackburn's] campaign now is resorting to fear-mongering and scare tactics typical of the Washington swamp." Baker's comment "underscores why we need common sense in Washington," Corney added.
He said "we asked online donors to chip in to help us match the 10,000 cuts with $10,000 in grassroots support - and hundreds of supporters chipped in more than $75,000 in 48 hours."
Corney said the campaign has "made clear from Day 1" that Bredesen "is running for a Senate seat to represent the people of Tennessee, not running against the President or a party." He cited an earlier TV spot in which Bredesen he said the former governor "pledged" to work with Trump on policies benefiting Tennesseans while "standing up against policies that hurt the state."
That was underscored in another TV ad, Corney said, which commended Trump "for his outreach to North Korea while opposing the administration's tariffs because they hurt Tennessee."